Parkway Theatre

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Occupying a busy corner at Charles and North, the magnificent Parkway Theater entertained audiences in Central Baltimore for decades with everything from vaudeville and silent movies to nightly live radio productions. Although abandoned for over a decade, the Parkway Theater is poised for renewal as developers vie for the chance to remake the handsome Italian Renaissance building for new crowds of Baltimore theater-goers.

Built in 1915, the Parkway was closely modeled on London's West End Theatre, later known as the Rialto, located near Leicester Square with shared features like the interior's rich ornamental plasterwork in a Louis XIV style. The architect, Oliver Birkhead Wight, was born in Baltimore County and designed a number of theaters around the city: the New Theater (now demolished) on Lexington Street, the Howard Theater around the corner on Howard Street, and the McHenry Theater on Light Street in Federal Hill.

Originally envisioned by owner Henry Webb's Northern Amusement Company as a 1100-seat vaudeville house, the theater added a movie projector even before they opened, screening "Zaza" starring leading Broadway actress Pauline Frederick for opening night on October 23, 1915. An early account of the theater remarked, "The lights radiating from the roof of the building as well as from the brilliantly lighted entrance, make an appreciable addition to the illuminations of North avenue which is fast becoming a nightly recreational center for the residents of the northern part of the city."

Loew's Theatres Incorporated bought the business in 1926, one of the scores of theaters across the Midwest and East Coast purchased by entrepreneur Marcus Loew as he grew his Cincinnati-based chain across the country. The new owners extensively remodeled the theater and replaced the original Moller Organ (Op. 1962, II/32) with a Wurlitzer theater organ. Loew's staged a grand re-opening along with the downtown Century Theater that they acquired and re-opened at the same time as the Parkway.

During the late 1940s and early 1950s, a group produced a nightly live radio program at the Parkway entitled "Nocturne" featuring poetry readings interspersed with musical selections on the organ. Morris Mechanic, a local theater operator who opened the Center Theater down the street in 1939, purchased the Parkway and closed the doors in 1952. Many thought that this might be the end of the Parkway, by then one of the oldest theaters in Baltimore City, and Morris Mechanic suggested that the building might be turned into offices.

Fortunately, the theater changed hands a few more times, spending a season or two as a live theater, before finally reopening with a new name — "5 West" — in 1956. With an eclectic mix of old movies, foreign films, and live performances, 5 West continued through the mid-1970s when it closed for good. Despite a handful of attempts to reuse the building in the 1980s and 1990s, the Parkway was closed from 1998 through 2017. In 2017, the Parkway reopened as The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Parkway—a complex of three theaters and the headquarters for the Maryland Film Festival.

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Front facade of the Parkway Theatre (1915): Front facade of the Parkway Theatre with a sign advertising "Pauline Frederick." ~ Source: Hughes Company Glass Negatives, The Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, P75-54-N109g ~ Date: 1915 October 23Parkway Theatre Interior (1915): View from the balcony of the Parkway Theatre looking at the stage. ~ Source: Hughes Company Glass Negatives, The Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, P75-54-N458g ~ Creator: Hughes Company ~ Date: October 23, 1915Parkway Theatre Interior (1915): View from the balcony of the orchestra seats and stage in the Parkway Theatre. ~ Source: Hughes Company Glass Negatives, The Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, P75-54-N457g. ~ Creator: Hughes Company ~ Date: 1915 October 23Parkway Theatre (1915): Crowd outside the North Avenue entrance to the Parkway Theatre. ~ Source: Hughes Company Glass Negatives, The Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, P75-54-A377g ~ Creator: Hughes Company ~ Date: 1915 October 23The 5 West (1985): View of the Parkway Theatre building with the "5 West" marque, as it was known from 1956 until it closed in the late 1970s. ~ Source: North Avenue (NA) Collection, Special Collections, Langsdale Library, University of Baltimore, na007 ~ Date: 1985 DecemberParkway Theatre (2012): Exterior view of the Parkway Theatre. ~ Source: Baltimore Heritage ~ Creator: Kurt Waters ~ Date: 2012Parkway Theatre (2012): Exterior view of the Parkway Theatre. ~ Source: Baltimore Heritage ~ Creator: Kurt Waters ~ Date: 2012